{"id":2263,"date":"2014-06-12T16:29:18","date_gmt":"2014-06-12T16:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=2263"},"modified":"2017-07-11T02:58:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T02:58:47","slug":"sacrifice-by-gale-acuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/sacrifice-by-gale-acuff\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacrifice by Gale Acuff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"church\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Sacrifice<\/h1>\n

by Gale Acuff<\/p>\n

Miss Hooker’s my Sunday School teacher and
\nshe says that if you kill yourself you go
\nto Hell hands down, there’s no hope for Heaven
\nbecause suicide–it’s called suicide
\n–is sin and almost the worst one there is,
\nthe worst one being I forget, maybe
\nnot believing there’s a God at all. Me,
\nI believe but that doesn’t mean I’ll go
\nto Heaven when I die, no, I’ve got to
\nstop my sinful ways, no more chewing gum
\nin class here and at regular school and
\nno more cheating on quizzes and no more
\nnot cleaning my plate during meals and no
\nmore talking back to Mother and Father,
\nespecially Mother, she’s not as strong
\nas Father and can do me less damage
\nand what that is is cowardice, I don’t
\nneed Miss Hooker to tip me off to that,
\nso now I’m wondering if I’m not saved
\nalready and don’t even know it, or
\ndidn’t, but now I do, or sort of. But
\nI don’t feel much like praying or singing,
\nreligious songs anyway, or going
\nto church and Sunday School any more than
\nI do now, or spreading the word of God,
\nwitnessing is what our church calls it. No,
\nwhat I really what to do is die just
\nenough to know what it’s like but also
\nenough not to have to lay down my life
\nfor good and the best way to do that is
\nbump myself off but only barely. Yawn.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

I have had poetry published in Ascent, Ohio Journal, Descant, Adirondack Review, Concho River Review, Worcester Review, Maryland Poetry Review, Florida Review, South Carolina Review, Arkansas Review, Carolina Quarterly, Poem, South Dakota Review, Santa Barbara Review, Sequential Art Narrative in Education<\/em>, and many other journals. I have authored three books of poetry: Buffalo Nickel<\/em> (BrickHouse Press, 2004), The Weight of the World<\/em> (BrickHouse, 2006), and The Story of My Lives<\/em> (BrickHouse, 2008).<\/p>\n

I have taught university English in the US, China, and the Palestinian West Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sacrifice by Gale Acuff Miss Hooker’s my Sunday School teacher and she says that if you kill yourself you go to Hell hands down, there’s no hope for Heaven because suicide–it’s called suicide –is sin and almost the worst one there is, the worst one being I forget, maybe not believing there’s a God at…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[413,412],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-poems","category-religious-poems"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t